About Mae

Mae Lu is a Canada-born, So-Cal-raised Asian American 30 Something, living a dream with her hubby & dog in the magical kingdom of Hawaii.

This red-lipstick aficionado designs websites for a living and runs a fledgling lifestyle YouTube Channel in her spare time. On the weekends, if she's not filming, you can find her behind the lens of her Sony A6000, shooting scenery in Hawaii, hiking the hills and ridges of her beloved island home, or chasing the perfect sunset.

Why "thereafterish."? Because "and they lived happily ever thereafter" is just half of every story, and this is mine.

Sunsets

Not long ago, we visited the fabled North Shore of O’ahu, where the legendary Pipeline surf break lies… and where I snapped a picture that inspired me talk about International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day

…has been observed as early as 1909. But on 8 March 1914, a suffragette was arrested as she made her way along a women’s march route–she was on her way to the final destination of the protest to speak on women’s rights. Several other countries celebrated the March 8th through out the decades that followed. In 1975, International Women’s Year, the UN celebrated the 8th of March a day for Women’s Rights and world peace. (That’s right!) And it has been International Women’s Day ever since.

You might be asking “what does this have to do with the North Shore, Mae?” Well…

We went up to the North Shore a month ago. We hiked in to an unnamed spot, set up camp for the afternoon and hung out. Nate played a rollicking game of fetch and tag with Max and our friend Anna picked shells and wrote stories. I pulled out my multiple cameras as the sun began to dip and crown the clouds with gold, hoping to practice shooting. Manual mode and long exposures called to me.

A family walked past us during golden hour. A little boy perched on his dad’s shoulders passed my lens, his sister and mother straggling behind, engrossed in talk as the little girl scampered around back and forth. The friendship between mother and daughter spoke volumes.

I imagined that the woman would raise her daughter to be independent, courageous and strong; to fight stigmas and be as confident in her own skin as she is in her convictions; to be motivated to lead but be willing to share time as part of a team; to work hard for victories, but to also accept failure as part of the process of success; to champion kindness, compassion and empathy; to be soft and gentle with that empathy, but also never back down from a fight if it means standing up for causes that matter; to love without abandon, and trust without fear, but to also protect her own heart as much as she protects the hearts of those for whom she cares; and, above all, to be fearlessly and unapologetically herself. I imagined that the woman raised her daughter to believe in a world where girls and boys are equal in all ways, where opportunity didn’t look at gender, skin color, faith or sexual preference or grade progress on those things. Her daughter would grow up knowing that the world truly is her oyster, and no societal pressure would make her bow, break or fray, or move away from her goals.

It is in that world that I want to believe.

Though that world doesn’t exist yet, I hope that things like International Women’s Day and the rising women’s resistance movement will assist in making that world a reality by the time the girl is grows up.

Do you believe in that world? Tell me if you have any stories of the world you believe in, leave your story in the comments below.